Sound mental health is the very goal of any human activity - more
so management. Sound mental health is that state of mind which can
maintain a calm, positive poise, or regain it when unsettled, in
the midst of all the external vagaries of work life and social existence.
Internal constancy and peace are the pre-requisites for a healthy
stress-free mind.
Some of the impediments to sound mental health are:
• Greed - for power, position, prestige and money.
• Envy - regarding others' achievements, success, rewards.
• Egotism - about one's own accomplishments.
• Suspicion, anger and frustration.
• Anguish through comparisons.
The driving forces in today's businesses are speed and competition.
There is a distinct danger that these forces cause erosion of the
moral fiber, that in seeking the end, one permits oneself immoral
means - tax evasion, illegitimate financial holdings, being "economical
with the truth", deliberate oversight in the audit, too-clever
financial reporting and so on. This phenomenon may be called as
"yayati syndrome".
In the book, the Mahabharata, we come across a king by
the name of Yayati who, in order to revel in the endless enjoyment
of flesh exchanged his old age with the youth of his obliging youngest
son for a thousand years. However, he found the pursuit of sensual
enjoyments ultimately unsatisfying and came back to his son pleading
him to take back his youth. This "yayati syndrome" shows
the conflict between externally directed acquisitions (extrinsic
motivation) and inner value and conscience (intrinsic motivation.)
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